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EnderWiggin.net is very happy to be one of the Ender’s Game fansites to exclusively debut the very first clip from Ender’s Game, now 27 days from release in the United States.

Watch below in the clip titled ‘Ender’s Army’ as Colonel Hyrum Graff of the International Fleet’s Battle School discusses with esteemed student Ender Wiggin his impressive record at the school and what’s in store for someone who is both excelling and struggling under Commander Bonzo Madrid of Salamander Army.

What do you guys think of the clip? I loved that they included the bit about the uniforms, which is pretty close to the scene in the book!

“I’ve never heard of Dragon Army,” Ender said.

“That’s because there hasn’t been a Dragon Army in four years. We discontinued the name because there was a superstition about it. No Dragon Army in the history of the Battle School ever won even a third of its games. It got to be a joke.”

“Well, why are you reviving it now?”

“We had a lot of extra uniforms to use up.”

For some reason I also loved the hum in the background, lending to the fact that they’re in space. I also cracked up that Graff seems to slouch. Perhaps that’s their substitute for the big belly?

Listen to EnderCast Episode 33.5 below to hear Kelly and I watching the clip for the first time!

hmmmmmm. Love Graff, love the slouch, love the uniform bit. Not so sure about Ender. Sounds a bit too monotonous for my taste. Still, it’s only a short clip, and it doesn’t give Asa Butterfield much to work with in terms of emotions.

I don’t like Graff. In the book, Graff is Ender’s main antagonist. The tension between them comes across in every scene. Here, it sounds like Graff is cutting Ender a break. Like he is doing him a favor. This is not at all the Graff of the book.

Graff should not be asking Ender if he wants his own army. In the book Ender is never asked he just has command thrust upon him. It’s important because it shows that the teachers are in charge of his destiny to a great degree. He has little choice in what they make him do. In the military you aren’t asked, “hey, how would you like to…” you are just told “go do this.”

Also, the comment about the uniforms in the book is a smart ass answer by Graff. It implies that whatever the real reason is, it’s none of Ender’s damn business. It highlights that the teachers don’t give true information to the students. The message is “don’t ask” or at least, if you do ask be prepared to be lied to. It doesn’t come across like that the way Harrison reads the line; It comes off more as Graff being cute.

Also, why cut the most important dialogue in that scene–the bit about Dragon Army’s poor record and the superstition involved? This is so important because it sets up more conflict and challenge for Ender to overcome. More obstacles = greater conflict = greater drama. It would have taken a scant one line to include this info. The fact the Gavin Hood cut this shows me he is either lazy or just doesn’t understand the crux of the scene. Or both.

Totes agree. I know they’ve supposedly incorporated a lot of the elements from later works into the film, and I imagine the character of Graff has “evolved” quite a bit from Card’s original vision. But the whole point of Graff’s behavior toward Ender (in Wiggins’ presence, and as far as the young would-be fleet commander could reasonably discern), was to convey, over and over again, the idea that ENDER IS ON HIS OWN. NO ONE GIVES A DAMN how he “feels” about anything. The friendship of adults — ANY adult — is a THREAT, not only to Ender’s personal survival, but his development as a general possessed of towering confidence, self-reliance, and intrepidity… And, therefore, to the SPECIES. That was the entire point of Graff being “nice” to Ender on the shuttle: WHEN ENDER GETS HELP, PEOPLE GET HURT. PEOPLE COULD DIE. ENDER ESPECIALLY, AND ALONG WITH HIM, ALL OF HUMANKIND. Graff is the immovable object against Ender’s unstoppable force, not a kindly uncle with a ready grin and soft eyes. He’s a bastard. He HAS to be, because as inhuman as he may SEEM to Ender, he’s NOTHING compared to the truly alien interlopers who will cut them all down as if they were… well, bugs.

If Graff shows his real emotions at all, it needs to be to his confidant, Maj. Anderson… And, to some extent, Ender too, at the lake. Other than that, tho, he needs to be a stone. Harrison Ford’s portrayal needs to be more from the first ten minutes, than the rest of “Regarding Henry”. If anything can be judged from this one scene — and, in fairness, probably it can’t be — they got it all wrong.

The film was, to me, a huge disappointment, and reinforces my (previous to learning the film was actually, finally, being made — I fell into the “hype” trap as much as, perhaps more than, anyone) long-held belief that it could not be adapted, except perhaps as a miniseries shot over the course of three to five years.

Not a fan of the quick-cut editing, the straight-on close-ups. This scene would have worked better if viewed at a distance, the better to visualize the gulf between Graff and Ender, and to capture body language. Asa’s face is too expressive; Ender needs to be a cypher, except when he’s at his breaking point(s). Graff’s too convivial; he needs to be commanding, and a smidge uncomfortable, but not so much that it’s apparent to Wiggin.

…Yeah, I’m not too impressed. Sorry to be such a grouch about it, but I think they missed the entire point of the scene. And, I fear, the book.

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Its such as you read my mind! You seem to understand
a lot about this, like you wrote the guide in it or something.
I feel that you just could do with a few p.c.
to force the message home a little bit, but other than that, that is great blog.